Debates Day 4 - Tuesday 9 May 2017
Parliamentary Record 5
Debates for 13th Assembly 2016 - 2018; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 13th Assembly 2016 - 2020
2017-05-09
pp 1623 to 1686
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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DEBATES Tuesday 9 May 2017 1657 The resources that COGSO provides to school councils are worth acknowledging. It represents 33 000 school students across the Territory and 150 government schools. It does a great job supporting our schools. It is very clear that this Territory Labor government values education. We take education seriously. We value the role that education plays in creating vibrant, safe and prosperous communities. We value education that starts at birth, continues throughout the schools years and remains available beyond secondary and tertiary education. You are never too old to relearn and retrain. The Member for Fong Lim spoke in his maiden speech about a few careers, but different opportunities arise. If you can capture education and training to support you then it is an important investment. We believe that upskilling our workforce places the Territory in the best position to continue to build a strong and vibrant Northern Territory. I am extremely supportive of this statement and the work the Minister for Education and her assistant minister are doing in making sure kids across the Territory have the best access to well-funded, wellresourced programs, and that we support our hard-working teachers. I commend the statement to the House. Ms LAWLER (Education): Madam Speaker, I thank the members who have contributed to the statement on the governments plan for Territory educationthe work we have already accomplished and the work we intend to do to give every child a world-class education. There were some wonderful informative contributions to the debate and many great ideas on how we can do more to bring equality to our system. A child in Papunya has not the same opportunity for an education as a child in Parap, but the same opportunities as a child at Kings College or Geelong Grammar School. This government knows how important it is that children and young people across the Territory have access to a high-quality education. That is why we have invested an additional $31m into education this year, delivering on a key election commitment. As the Deputy Chief Minister pointed out, this is one of the biggest areas of recurrent expenditure commitments we have made$31m per year for more teachers and support staff, for more services to support student engagement and learning, and for more resources, because we know how important it is that we invest in education. We are delivering a comprehensive, evidence-based agenda to strengthen school quality and deliver a contemporary curriculum that prepares students for the future. Many members contributions to this debate reflected on the value of education and how it has impacted the opportunities available to those in this House who have the privilege of serving their communities. The Member for Stuart spoke about the barriers he faced and overcame, as someone with limited formal education, and the role of his teachers in sparking his curiosity and interest in the wider community. The Member for Katherine spoke about the education she received opening up so many opportunities. She also spoke about her home country of Timor-Leste, a country with some of the highest levels of poverty and disadvantage in our region. She spoke about the value placed on education as having the power to break the cycle of poverty. I hope to have the opportunity to visit the governments Senai NT English Language Centre in Dili in the next few months. The centre is forging strong links between the NT and Timor. The contributions to this debate from many members who were educators, like the Members for Arnhem, Barkly, Nightcliff and Blain, shows that we have a wealth of knowledge and commitment. We have the best chance to make gains. We cannot do this alone. We must work with our partners in education, with the committed and passionate representatives in our stakeholder groups, such as the Australian Education Union NT; the NT Council of Government School Organisations, which the Member for Nightcliff spoke about; the NT principals association; the Professional Teachers Association of the Northern Territory; the special education association; Charles Darwin University; and Batchelor Institute. There are a number of key stakeholders in education.